[rodgersorgan] PR-300S and MIDI
- From: Edwin S Russell <ed_russell@xxxxxxxx>
- To: rodgersorgan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 16:03:07 -0700
My understanding of the functioning of the PR-300S and the MIDI
scene is at an elementary level at this point and I find some of the
terminology confusing, if not conflicting. In particular, I am having
a lot of trouble understanding channels vs. tracks and some other
issues.
NEED: We have the need for organ music which can be played
softly in an environment conducive to meditation (not as part of
a regular church service) and much of the time there is no organist
available. To fill this need I have recorded a number of hymn
arrangements on the (Rodgers, of course) organ using the PR-300S.
These pieces play in "unattended mode" using the "chain play"
function.
PROBLEM: Some of the pieces I recorded are louder than they
should be. I have been looking for a way to change the volume
of the recorded pieces without having to re-record them.
Since I have not found any information on editing the proprietary
format (.rsc/.rsd) files, I have opted to save copies of those pieces
as standard MIDI files (.mid) and then edit those using a MIDI
editor. After looking at several programs on the market I opted
to purchase a program named "Studio Ensemble 2003" from IDD.
(Whether that was a good choice may not be known for a while
but that is irrelevant.) This program _appears_ to be able to do
what I need to do.
So I opened one of the saved MIDI (.mid) files on the disk using
this program to see what it found. The display shows 16 "tracks"
but only "tracks" 12, 13, and 14 show anything recorded. It is
pretty evident that the "track" 12 line contains the notes played
on the Great, 13 the Swell, and 14 the Pedal. The use of the word
"track" here is confusing to me because the PR-300S uses the same
word for the buttons used during recording (the ones labeled "R"
and "1"-"4". In almost every piece I used only track 1 on the
PR-300S. On one piece where I recorded parts separately using
(PR-300S) tracks 1 & 2 they still showed up with the breakdown
of G/S/P on 12/13/14.
I am surmising that the 16 tracks shown in the editor program
correspond to the 16 MIDI "channels" referred to in the PR-300S
Owner's Manual. However, the O.M. shows a correspondence
of "channels" 12-14 to "tracks" 1-3 on the PR-300S and that does
not seem to be what I am seeing in the editor with those three
"channels" being for the three organ divisions.
My next step was to simply adjust the "master volume" in the
editing program at the beginning of the piece. I then played a few
bars to be sure that it was still there, and then saved the file back
to disk as a .mid file. The only change I made to the file (that I am
aware of) was the change to the master volume control.
If I close the original file and open the saved one (with the changed
volume) it now shows me that there is music on "tracks" 1, 13, and
14. The music that was originally showing on track 12 is now on
track 1 while 13 and 14 remain unchanged. This change had me a
bit concerned at first so I copied both the original .mid file and the
one with the changed volume to a new disk and took it to the organ.
Interestingly enough, the original one starts to "play" but without
setting
the stops. I guess I never tried to play the original MIDI/smf file
after saving it to disk. However, the edited file with the change of
volume seems to play just fine. As near as I can tell, the result of the
editing operation accomplished what I was trying to do even though
the "tracks" used in the edited file are different than the original.
After playing a few bars of the updated MIDI file on the organ
(through the PR-300S) to get it loaded in memory, I then saved the
file on the original disk using the "normal" .rsc/.rsd file format.
Everything seems to work as intended with two noted differences:
1. When playing the original piece (i.e. the piece originally saved
in rsc/rsd format) the stops are set when the piece starts to play.
When playing the new version (i.e. the one coming from the edited
MIDI file) the stops are selected as soon as the number of that piece
is dialed on the PR-300S. I did not check to see if they would be
re-set if I cleared them and then pressed "play".
2. The display for the new version shows measure number as "PU"
rather than "1". The manual addresses that issue and I suspect it is
not important but it is a difference.
+++
I apologize for the length of this mail but if anyone has waded through
the whole thing and has comments to help clarify my confusion on
tracks, channels, parts, etc. as well as an explanation for why the
registration is selected before the piece starts to play I would be
most appreciative.
!
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